Updated: Did Katy Perry Sexually Harass Benjamin Glaze On ‘American Idol’?
ABC Reading Time: 2 minutes
One of the moments on this week’s premiere of American Idol that made me cringe was when young Benjamin Glaze came on the show and was tricked into kissing Katy Perry. The problem was that it was Benjamin’s first kiss and it really threw him off. He was barely able to finish his audition. While some people, including Katy, might have thought it was cute, Benjamin for one did not.
For many people it would be a dream to get a kiss from Katy Perry. But if you are conservative boy from the South who was saving his first kiss for someone special, it can be a bit of a violation. It was part of Katy’s whole schtick of flirting with the contestants and clearly to her it didn’t mean anything. In fact she probably thought she was doing Benjamin a favor. He did not see it that way. He said,
“I was a tad bit uncomfortable. I wanted to save it for my first relationship. I wanted it to be special.Would I have done it if she said, ‘Would you kiss me?’ No, I would have said no. I know a lot of guys would be like, ‘Heck yeah!’ But for me, I was raised in a conservative family and I was uncomfortable immediately. I wanted my first kiss to be special.”
In the comments for the video a lot of people agreed and thought Katy took advantage of the kid. Not in a mean or malicious way, I’m sure Katy did not mean anything by it. But that’s why you have to very careful with this kind of stuff. Benjamin would have had grounds to bring her up on sexual harassment charges if he wanted to. And two people on a show with sexual harassment allegations is too much.
UPDATE:
Benjamin responded to all this media speculation by telling the world that even if they think he was sexually harassed, he doesn’t think he was. Benjamin posted this on Instagram:
Do you think it was sexual harassment? Was what Katy Perry did OK?
